2026 goings-on at Bean Hill Brass (parts parts parts parts)

[arpthark]

2026 has started with an overabundance of parts, projects, and things in my shop. My shop was previously located in a 600 sq ft barn built in 1885 (which I shared with the lawnmower and all the outdoor equipment), but has now moved to a 300 sq ft garage built in 1960, so things are much more compact, but much warmer.

Current Projects

- The thing I would really like to get done is to finish building my franken-F tuba out of a New York Band Inst. Co. (European?) Eb body and King/Holton/Miraphone 5v cluster. I have the blueprinting pretty much done, just need to do the assembly, make the fifth valve linkage, and bend the leadpipe. Much easier said than done.

- I have a Mercedes Bach 3v BBb that needs to either get out of here or turn into spare parts. It's beat up and missing a finger button, a few tears in the bell, but all the parts are there. Jury's out on that for now.

- Somehow, I also ended up with four(!?) three-valve bell-front euphs: three Conn and one King, in various states of disrepair. Three are repairable, one is parts-bin-able. They are all very close to being primetime ready.

- Also in euph-world, I am needing a fourth valve for this Besson compensating euph I'm rebuilding... rare to find 50 year old Besson parts in the USA that people are willing to part out or part with.

- Outside of tubas/euphs, I have two trombones I'm fixing up: a Los Angeles Super Olds with "tone ring" and a King 3B with F attachment. I haven't had the patience to fiddle with the slides yet, and that's the biggest issue with both of them.

- Oh yeah, and an Olds Recording trumpet that is almost ready to go. Just waiting on the penetrating oil to crack the stuck second valve slide and it'll be all set.

This is all not to mention the current customer work I have: a trumpet in for a chem clean, an older gentleman who brought in his bugle for repair, and a Bach Strad cornet leadpipe de-denting. Longer-term, one of those customers has a Boston Eb alto horn with hopelessly stuck pistons. (Needs to bathe in PB blaster for a few days.) And there is a school with an Eb sousaphone they need a neck/bits for, but I am close to procuring everything.

Future Projects

- There's a Martin Medium Eb that is a great player that would be a great candidate to convert to a front-action 5v, but that would require an elusive 4v King cluster. Speaking of the elusive 4v King cluster, I have a 3v King 1240 that I purchased as a donor/parts horn, a smaller Bohm & Meinl 3v sousaphone cluster (17.5mm ish, close to the same bore) in poor shape, and a King 2350 sousaphone cluster with no pistons but nice casings... I could definitely graft on a piston to the 3v King cluster, but I think the Martin deserves something nicer.

- There's a Miraphone Standard 3v BBb that I stripped down to use parts to extend the fifth valve in my Symphonie F, but the fit is just ever so slightly off, and I don't play that instrument enough right now that it's a pressing need, especially when the fully extended fifth valve slide works for low Bb.

- I decided to keep my Piggy CC and want to add a fifth valve to it, but I have been hard-pressed to find an ~.835" rotor in my budget.

- I have a USA Line (York) BBb top action body (no valves) on to which I would like to graft a BBb valveset, and I also have a .750" bore BBb cluster from an old "York Master." I actually have the entire York Master body, but no bell. Do you know how rare a York Master bell is, either recording or upright? I am trying to decide if I want to try to repurpose the York bell in a different project or try to rebuild the BBb.

- There's a B&S Gerhard Schneider/Sonora BBb that got damaged in shipping and needs the carriage posts reattached. It also has evidence of past slipshod repair work. I'd like to get it looking a bit nicer, but it's a very nice player.

- There's also a Buescher Eb helicon that needs a new piston cluster. I might repurpose the Buescher, not sure yet, but I'd sure like it not taking up space. One piston was severely ovaled, and the rest have very poor plating. The good news is the bell is in pristine shape, and it has a neck and bits. It would be a really sweet 5v conversion candidate. Open harmonic series played great when it was put together.

Little piddly things I haven't gotten the gumption to do:

- Olds Ambassador trumpet that needs a third valve slide (easy!)

- Bundy cornet that needs a leadpipe (kind of easy!)

- Lots of used French horns, trumpets, and trombones that need a little bit of love or need to become scrap brass (kind of easy, but a lot of stuff.)

- I need to give some of my dent machine tools, dent balls, and mandrels a bath in rust remover. I also somehow lost my small dent machine roller attachment in the move. Definitely need that!

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And last but not least, getting a forum member's project off the ground to build a 5v Eb out of two 4v Eb Cervenys... the preliminary process has started, but it's pretty much in the alpha phase.

Whew, that's a lot! Hopefully I can get some of this knocked out before spring.

[Casca Grossa]

I have a feeling the forum member will be very happy with their 5 valve Eb once it's done.

[hrender]

- There's a Martin Medium Eb that is a great player that would be a great candidate to convert to a front-action 5v, but that would require an elusive 4v King cluster. Speaking of the elusive 4v King cluster, I have a 3v King 1240 that I purchased as a donor/parts horn, a smaller Bohm & Meinl 3v sousaphone cluster (17.5mm ish, close to the same bore) in poor shape, and a King 2350 sousaphone cluster with no pistons but nice casings... I could definitely graft on a piston to the 3v King cluster, but I think the Martin deserves something nicer.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/257302317546

Sell the bell (and maybe the bows), recoup some of the cost.

[arpthark]

- There's a Martin Medium Eb that is a great player that would be a great candidate to convert to a front-action 5v, but that would require an elusive 4v King cluster. Speaking of the elusive 4v King cluster, I have a 3v King 1240 that I purchased as a donor/parts horn, a smaller Bohm & Meinl 3v sousaphone cluster (17.5mm ish, close to the same bore) in poor shape, and a King 2350 sousaphone cluster with no pistons but nice casings... I could definitely graft on a piston to the 3v King cluster, but I think the Martin deserves something nicer.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/257302317546

Sell the bell (and maybe the bows), recoup some of the cost.

Good thought! I am actually meeting someone tomorrow who has a 4v King body for sale who reached out due to this post, but I had been eyeing that as a second option.

[arpthark]

Recently I have been fixing trumpets, a bugle, and an antique Conn mellophone.

The bugle was interesting. It's a run-of-the-mill Rexcraft Boy Scout bugle that a gentleman bought to play Taps on. The tuning slide was hopelessly mangled, leaky, and bent. My first thought was to repair it, but in trying to unsolder the slide legs, I found out that the whole thing had been press-fit (much like Yamaha trumpets) and it was not going to come apart that way. Luckily, I had a crook of matching bore that was the main tuning slide from an old Martin mellophone, so I swapped them out. I also did a lot of bell de-denting and uncrumpling and turned the worst of the pings and dents in the leadpipe into ripples using dent balls and tapered mandrels. The metal was very thick and hard to move, but it is in playable condition now and the owner was very happy with it.

I also have a Bach Strad cornet to fit a new leadpipe on, a Bach Strad trumpet to clean, and a 24J mouthpipe to ungoof.

[aarongsmith]

- Also in euph-world, I am needing a fourth valve for this Besson compensating euph I'm rebuilding... rare to find 50 year old Besson parts in the USA that people are willing to part out or part with.

I remember Don Sawday mentioning in a facebook thread that he has a lot of UK-era Besson parts. https://www.facebook.com/sawdayhorns/about